Blinded
by Kitsune-Miko-Tenshi
Summary: One-Shot Kim hasn't always been the way she is now, but it wasn't in any way her decision to have her life turned upside down. Then Jared suddenly walks into the picture from outside the frame and her life is turned upside down again. She's been blinded.


Blinded

People didn't turn their heads to look at her. She was the average person, the kind of person who slowly manipulated themselves down the hallways, never touching a single person and never getting in the way of anyone else. She was the type of person to stare at her shoes and smile at the bright yellow tiles adorning the floor. At times, this kind of girl believed that the tiles deserved her smile much more than the people she passed by every single day.

She had attended this school for a long time now. La Push was too small for three separate schools so for some strange reason the little village as some would call it, got by with just two schools, one for grades one to six and the other from seven to twelve. She was a senior now, so five whole years in this school would assure that she knew her way around the building.

Turning the corner and entering the art class room she accidently ran into the frame work. Laughing at herself she scratched the back of her head and hurried off to her seat. Sitting down carefully and pulling the stool back beneath her she set her books down carefully on the table making sure that there wasn't too much noise.

Looking around the class, she sighed as a particular voice didn't reach her ears. Turning back to her books, she pushed them to the side as the teacher set down a clay board and a huge wad of clay before her. Slowly she lifted her hands and took a piece of clay away from the ball. She smiled to herself as she closed her eyes, imagining her inspiration. A wolf, she seemed to think as her fingers kneaded precariously away at the clay. Slowly she shaped the great canine, revelling at the texture of the clay between her fingers.

Walking down the halls again the girl sighed at she leaned against her locker waiting for her partner to come save her from her predicament. Alaine skipped down the hall and twisted herself so that her arms swirled around her head creating a slight air flow before touching the side of their locker lightly. "Sorry for being so late Kimmie, Mr. Bosh held back our class because Paul decided that throwing a giant paper ball at his head would make him less boring. Though I might add, it did help with this particular class."

"It's okay" muttered the girl as she stared absentmindedly at the lock that her best friend turned within her hands.

"You really should remember Kimmie, someday I'm gonna get sick and you won't be able to get your books from our locker," grinned Alaine and hit the metal locker door to get it open. Kim winced from the loud sound and Alaine looked at her apologetically. "Is your brother coming to pick you up today?"

"That I am," muttered a deep voice behind the graceful girl. Alaine turned around and grinned at the tall boy.

"Joseph!"

Kimmie smiled, "Have your moment, not like I'll bother you two…no matter how disturbing this whole entire scenario is." Joseph grinned at his little sister as he kissed Alaine lightly on the forehead. He grabbed Kim's book bag and her afterwards and led her out of the school. "Hey! I'm not a little girl anymore."

"You're always gonna be our little Kimmie," Alaine chirped as she skipped behind the siblings to the old beat up car parked carelessly in front of the school. Kimmie sighed as she opened the door and clamoured into the back seat once again leaving this world to the couple sitting in the front.

The girl walked down the halls again smiling at the bright yellow tiles as she further edged on in her path. Turning the corner she entered the art room this time managing to miss the door frame. Her ears perked up as she turned her head to scan the classroom, she could hear it, his voice. Jared Miller was finally back.

Kim smiled as she edged her way towards her seat close to the door. She sat down slowly and pulled the stool beneath her before setting her books on the table. Slowly she shifted herself so that her elbows rested on the table and her chin rested on her hands. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the voice that she longed to hear. "Don't worry about it, I'm perfectly fine now, no sweat you guys." How he had ever ended up in her art class, she would never know, but she didn't really care, as long as Jared was there, she was more than perfectly content with her life.

Suddenly warmth surged through her as she perked up and opened her eyes wide. What the heck was that? Her whole entire body seemed to quiver with that question as she looked around the classroom trying to figure out where in all names that that heat wave was coming from, when the heat wave started talking to her. "Uh, hey Kim. Can I borrow a…" it was her dream voice, sitting beside her, probably the last seat that was left. She didn't often have anyone sitting beside her; they all thought…she was just too strange.

"A pencil?" Kim asked as she slowly rummaged through her pencil case and held it out to the heat wave sitting beside her. What the heck was wrong with him? Did he plan on cooking himself alive? Perfectly fine her ass. Without even having to see, she could tell that he nodded and look the pencil out of her hand. She gasped slightly as his searing hot fingers brushed against her own and pulled back.

"We…we haven't talked in a while have we Kim?" muttered Jared, his voice taking on an almost musical note while talking to her. Kim shook her head, refusing to look his way while the teacher set down her half finished wolf before her and the rest of her unfinished clay. "How long has it been?"

"Since eighth grade," Kim muttered as she held her wolf delicately in her hands and felt it slowly with her fingers figuring out where it need some more furry texture and to estimate whether or not any of its limbs were out of proportion.

"Ah…" His voice was still musical, even with her one syllable answer. Even thought Kim didn't dare look his way, for some reason she didn't believe that he even touched his clay throughout the whole entire class.

"Kim! Wait, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"I'm not going anywhere," murmured Kim as she looked at her shoes, once again refusing to look at him, knowing just knowing that he would spot the difference the moment he looked at her again for the first time in four years.

"What happened to you four years ago? We used to be such awesome friends and then you kind disappeared off the face of the planet. I didn't even notice that you were back," muttered Jared. With all the warmth that he was radiating she still couldn't dodge the bucket of ice water that poured down her back with that statement.

She turned her head to the side wishing the Alaine would hurry up, "I've been in your art class all year long."

She could almost feel Jared wince at that statement, "Hey, um do you mind if I…give you a ride home?"

Kim bit her lip and gazed down the empty halls, Alaine probably thought that she remembered today and didn't even find the need to show up at their lockers. "Sure, but can you open my locker first, I remember the combo but I can never hit the door hard enough to actually get the door open afterwards," Kim murmured hoping, just hoping that her voice sounded right and backed away from her locker door. Jared nodded and grabbed the cold metal lock turning the dial as Kim recited the combination to him. He hit the locker with a loud clang and Kim recoiled as her ears shook with the loud sound.

"Here I'll grab your stuff for you too," he grinned and held out his hands for the books that were securely held within her arms. Kim shook her head violently almost toppling over from the head rush that the feeling gave her. That would in no way be a good thing. "Okay okay, calm down."

Kim smiled at him still avoiding his gaze as much as possible. Not a good idea to let anyone know her secret now.

The next week was a frenzy of Jared. Kim couldn't avoid him no matter how hard she tired. It didn't help that Paul also seemed to radiate the same warmth Jared did; this made it so much harder for Kim to avoid them. But then again it was in her best interest to avoid both of them anyways. Where there was one, the other was usually somewhere close behind.

"Kim, do you mind coming with me to the beach this afternoon? I want to…tell you something," Jared muttered. Kim sighed, it seemed like the boy had taken up permanent residence in the seat beside her in art class.

"Okay," she replied as she poked at the legs of the wolf making sure that they wouldn't fall off from any kind of pressure. The clay sculpture had already been finished a day or two before, but Kim needed to have the wolf perfect, she didn't know why but it was almost a desperation calling out to her from the welts deep in her heart. "I…I need to tell you something too."

Kim sat down carefully on the log that was placed on the sand close to the recoiling waters of the cold ocean. Jared sat down beside her creating a loud groaning as the log protested beneath his weight. Kim giggled as the sound and continued to stare out at the ocean. "Kim, you must know by now, that I love you."

"I do."

Kim almost smiled as his breathing started to burst into spasms. She could hear how he was every time she was around, she could tell the types of feelings he had about her just by touching his hand, and she knew all of this because she felt it all as well.

"That's good then Kim," Jared muttered as he reached out and gently took her hand in his. He tugged it slightly and turned to face her. Her wispy hair blew in front of face as he stared contently at the girl he had fallen in love with. Slowly it was four years ago and now with a quickly sealed deal it had completed over the past week. "Why won't you look at me Kim?"

Kim gasped as she tried to take her hand back but he held on tightly. "Jared, please I…I can't tell you like this."

"Kim, you can tell me anything in this whole entire world. God Kim, I love you don't you understand that? I don't know why you disappeared and sadly I don't know when you came back either but I want to know Kim. I want to know everything there is to know about you. You're the whole entire universe to me, my universe."

Tears wells up in Kim's eyes as the saltiness of the ocean and her cries of pain stained her tongue. "I…Jared…You have to understand, I love you too. But honestly, even if I know, even if it's the best thing to ever happen to me, it's not in your best interest to love me."

"How could that ever be?!" growled Jared as his grip on her hand tightened. Kim clenched her eyes shut and stood up, "Kim, trust me, if anything it should be the other way around. It shouldn't be in your best interest to love me, or for me to love you, no that's a whole load of crap, but Kim…I love you and I want that feeling to matter."

"Jared!" Kim yelled wrenching her hand from his grasp and looked him in the eye, and that's when he saw it and his eyes widened by a fraction of an inch, "Damn it Jared! I'm…I'm blind…" She took in a loud sob and ran.

It took him seconds, maybe even less before the girl was back in his arms. He held her to him as she fought and cried with all her might to escape his warm embrace. Eventually her strength left her and she held her hands up to her dull brown eyes, covered in fake contacts and laced in tears. Jared gently nuzzled her neck, as tears streamed down her face. The tears weren't from the confession, weren't from the pain of her past, but from the words he was gently whispering into her ear, "is that all Kim? Is that really all there is?"

Kim walked down the hall smiling, her eyes uncovered for the first time in four years, her body not pressed against the wall, her senses not on high alert to the sound of people in front of her or the chattering of the student body. Kim was smiling for once not at the yellow tiles that adorned the school halls but up at the boy who had loved her for everything she was including her eyes.

During her eighth year in school, she had gotten into an accident involving shattering glass and bandaged eyes taking away her sight forever. Knowing the school halls as she did she knew that she could walk through the halls as though nothing had happened to her. As people had said, with the loss of one sense, the others heightened, her hearing escalated to a maximum high, making sure she would never run into a person and making her sensitive to all things remotely loud, that would include Jared's best friend Paul.

The doctors couldn't believe that she had lived her life so normally for four years, the only people knowing around the damage that had been done were her family and of course her best friend Alaine. Now everyone knew, and she was okay with that, because the person that mattered the most to her in the world accepted her for who she was.

Jared led her around the corner as they both sat down in their seats. Kim pulled her stool beneath her before setting her books down on the table. The teacher placed her baked clay sculpture before her and she held it gently within her hands.

Kim caressed the wolf gently; happy that it had turned out the way she wanted. Jared had described to her its colour, a warm brown with ink lets of dark brown and light brown fur scattered around its torso and a light brown, almost beige patch of fur surrounding its left eye. This was before it was baked, and Kim knew enough about the paints to know how her wolf looked now.

Kim could feel Jared tense up beside her as he stared intently at her sculpture. "What is it Jared?" Kim asked as she turned to him marvelling at his extraordinary warmth.

"Ah, um…would you mind going to the forest with me tonight. I want to tell you something," muttered Jared as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

Kim giggled as he took a loud whiff of her hair and nodded, "this time however, there is really nothing else wrong with me."

Jared laughed, and Kim delighted herself in the sound, "okay."

"Where are you taking me Jared," murmured Kim as he piggybacked her deep into the woods.

"Just this clearing that I know, the perfect place that…for…well…you'll see."

"Um, Jared…no I won't."

Jared laughed, "you know what I mean." Kim nodded and rested her head on his shoulder. Almost lulling herself to sleep with the steady bounce of his footsteps on the earth below his feet. "We're here."

Kim tilted her head to the side as Jared gently set her down on the dewy grass. Kim reached up and grabbed his shoulders in tight hug, feeling his tensed muscles relax with the smoothing of her fingers. "You can tell me anything Jared."

She could feel Jared nod beneath her fingers and his breathing speed up, "Kim, have you ever heard the legends of our tribe."

"Odd way to open up there buddy, but yes I have."

"Well, I'm a living manifestation of those legends Kim. I'm…a…"

"A? A….duck? A very gorgeous man inside and out, a big bad wolf…"

"Kim, I'm a werewolf." He was shaking beneath her touch before he pulled away from her arms. Kim remained silent as she heard his feet endlessly pace across the leafy clearing. "I know this sounds absolutely ridiculous, and I would understand if you never wanted to talk to me again, but let me have the chance to prove it to you Kim."

"I can't…"

"It doesn't matter." Kim could almost hear him strip himself of his clothes.

"What ARE you doing?"

"I'm showing you…I'm letting you see. Oh and yah…I'm brown…I actually kinda look like…your clay thing." Kim heard a sound almost like a loud pop with a furry feedback and suddenly she didn't hear two feet pacing across the leafy earth anymore but four.

Jared slowly inched towards her as Kim held out her hand timidly, it shaking with either anticipation or fear. Jared slowly nudged his head underneath her hand and she flipped it over to stroke the top of his big furry head. Slowly Kim brought herself to a standing position and wrapped her arms around Jared's broad neck. Jared's tongue drooped out of his mouth at her gentle touch as she closed her eyes and dug her fingers gently into his fur.

"Just like…there was a reason I had to…and now I know," murmured Kim. Jared looked up at her with his big brown eyes as she carefully laid her head on his shoulder. After what had happened to Sam and Emily, after all the trouble he had gone through to be with her, to not scare her and have her leave him forever, Jared could have burst into tears from the words that she whispered into his ear, "is that all Jared? Is that really all there is?"


End file.
